Cannabis News

The HEMP Embassy Headlines are a selection of recent articles from news services and media sources primarily concerning Cannabis issues, the consequences of prohibition and the challenges for law reform. Here are the selected headlines for this week.

Embassy HEADLINES Issue 329

November 7, 2018

AUSTRALIA & NEW ZEALAND

In handing down the sentence, Judge Ellis said that it was clear that Mr Futter had been cultivating the plants for non-profit medicinal purposes. And his Honour acknowledged that there is a rising awareness in the community of the “potential medicinal benefits of cannabis”. The judge also lamented the state of NSW laws that don’t recognise a distinction between growing recreational cannabis so as to turn a profit and cultivating the plant for the benefit of those in medical need. Judge Ellis told the court that while this distinction can’t be found in the law, there’s no reason why it shouldn’t appear there, and in the meantime, this distinction “should be found in the sentencing principles applied by a sentencing court when dealing with such offences”. And this isn’t the first time the District Court judge has accepted that people in the community are genuinely helping others by producing cannabis oil. In October 2015, Judge Ellis imposed a two year good behaviour bond on Malcolm Ronald Lee in a similar case involving cannabis used as medicine.

A NSW coroner has likened the effects of drug prohibition to state sanctioned racism, saying future generations would look back at current laws on illicit substances with incredulity. Deputy State Coroner Harriet Grahame also took aim at sniffer dogs patrolling train stations as a “low-hanging” law enforcement tactic during an ongoing inquest examining government policy on prescription opiates and illegal drug use.

More than half a million Queenslanders have used an illegal drug in the past year, with cannabis the drug of choice for most. The Health of Queenslanders2018 report, due to be released this month, will show an estimated 558,000 people aged 14 or older had used illicit drugs in the previous 12 months. Of those, 485,000 people had used cannabis.

A world first clinical trial investigating whether medicinal cannabis can benefit patients with malignant brain tumours will be led by researchers at Endeavour College of Natural Health and supported by internationally renowned neurosurgeon Professor Charlie Teo.

For years Nimbin radio producer Phil Bromley watched in growing frustration as his town was subjected to a media-driven police crackdown on recreational drug use. First came the constant police patrols, then the tough sentences for juvenile drug dealers, and then the near-constant presence of Roadside Drug Testing (RDT) units on the main roads into and out of town. ‘They’re prosecuting people with minute traces of THC in their systems – people are losing their jobs over it,’ Bromley says of the RDT operations in and around the town. Finally, Bromley and his mates from Nimbin’s community radio station 2NimFM decided it was time to speak up. The result was an eight-part radio documentary series entitled ‘Exposing the War on Drugs’.

Tamworth will become home to an $8 million medicinal cannabis farm with council approving a massive development application. Cann Pharmaceuticals is the group behind the project and it hopes to get work under way by the end of this year and have production up and running by late 2019. Cann chairman Andrew McCrea told The Leader Tamworth was picked as the location for its cannabis farm for its ideal growing climate and because of the support of the city.

New research shows decriminalising cannabis and introducing a regulated market would be a boost for New Zealand’s economy. The Government is working through plans to hold a referendum on legalising cannabis on or before the 2020 election.

Since hemp became legal in Australia on November 12, 2017, two Aussies and an Irishman have been turning the non psychoactive parts of the plant into useful products—chief among them, a relaxing gin that will invoke euphoria, but won’t get you high.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions has resigned in the wake of the midterm elections. In a tweet with a photo of his resignation letter, Mr Sessions said he was stepping down at the request of United States president Donald Trump.

Studies show that people use at roughly the same rates, regardless of race. When it comes to legal consequences, of course, the rates are very different. In New York City where I live, marijuana has officially been decriminalized since the 1970s. Yet people of color continue to be arrested at grossly disproportionate rates—a pattern that holds nationwide.

As more states consider legalizing medical marijuana, others who have already made this leap are continuously expanding their programs so that more patients have access to a safe alternative medicine. When Ohio legalized medical marijuana, they included a list of 21 qualifying conditions – with roughly 3.5 million residents who qualify – and a stipulation that the State Medical Board of Ohio would be required to review petitions for new conditions each year.

Medical marijuana patients and growers across Oregon are abandoning the state’s MMJ program, according to reports. Licensed medical marijuana companies are increasingly up against a combination of legislative red tape and a different kind of market force: the convenience of recreational retail sales.

America’s slow burn towards cannabis legalisation continues at the midterms as four states will vote on ballots featuring medicinal and recreational initiatives. Michigan and North Dakota will decide whether to make the drug legal while Utah and Missouri will vote on its medicinal uses. Polls are suggesting that all four ballots are likely to pass.

Home grow advocates in Washington State are getting ready for the upcoming 2019 legislative session and they have high hopes the state will finally pass an adult-use home grow bill. Washington is the only fully legalized state that does not allow adults over 21 to grow cannabis at home without a medical cannabis qualification. Last year, a home grow bill passed the House Commerce and Gaming Committee only to stall before key deadlines were met. Despite the defeat, advocates are back this year with a new bill and new strategies.

Santa Barbara County officials seized 400,000 marijuana plants in Santa Maria on Monday, according to a news release from the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office. The seizure, in the 2700 block of Telephone Road, stemmed from a criminal investigation authorities were conducting into an illegal marijuana grow “that was concealed among existing farm fields,” according to the release.

President Trump will push for marijuana legalization after the upcoming elections, according to former White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci. “I do. I think he’s going to legalize marijuana,” Scaramucci told Succeed.com founder Charles Peralo in an interview this week. “I think he’s waiting for after the midterms. I think he’s on the side of legalization.”

An investor in a major Canadian cannabis company has had longstanding ties, including business dealings, with influential Mafia members and drug traffickers, Radio-Canada has learned. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s legalization plan was supposed to cut out organized crime, but an investigation by Radio-Canada’s Enquête shows Health Canada has granted production licences to companies with individuals with links to the criminal underworld.

Starting Wednesday, there’s going to be a new pot dealer in town on the Opaskwayak Cree Nation — a legal dealer. The First Nation is opening a new legal retail cannabis store in the northern Manitoba community’s mall — believed to be the first such store on a First Nation in Canada.

The privacy of 4,500 Ontario Cannabis Store customers was breached through what the online retailer says was a weakness in Canada Post’s tracking website, the Toronto Sun has learned. The information obtained was the buyer’s name or initials, postal code, date of cannabis delivery, the Canada Post tracking number and OCS’ corporate name and address.

WORLD

Mexico’s highest court has ruled two complainants should be allowed to use cannabis for recreational purposes, setting a precedent that a ban on the drug is unconstitutional. The Supreme Court found that adults have a “fundamental right to the free development of the personality” without interference from the state. “That right is not absolute, and the consumption of certain substances may be regulated, but the effects provoked by marijuana do not justify an absolute prohibition of its consumption,” the ruling read.

President-elect Andrés Manuel López Obrador said yesterday that the government should respect the Supreme Court’s decision striking down the ban on recreational marijuana use. The court ruled Wednesday that the ban on personal use or consumption violated Mexicans’ “fundamental right to the free development of the personality.”

A Mexico senator has introduced a bill that would legalise recreational marijuana. Andrés Manuel López Obrador is the president-elect of Mexico, and his soon-to-be interior interior minister Olga Sanchez Cordero proposed a bill to legalise marijuana. If it passes, each person will be allowed to have up to 20 plants at a time for personal consumption. The bill would also include regulating and monitoring production, sales, and consumption.

Patients in Jersey will be able to get medical cannabis from all doctors after politicians voted to change the law. Deputy Montfort Tadier, who proposed the move, said GPs should be allowed to prescribe pre-approved products to patients. In the UK only specialist doctors are allowed to issue similar treatments. Consultant neurologist Prof Mike Barnes said the mainland should follow the changes, as cannabis expertise was “rare” among medical professionals.

Let’s be clear: the struggle is far from over. The NHS released its prescription guidelines last week and they were disappointingly restrictive. Drawn up by the Royal College of Physicians and the Royal Paediatric Neurology Association, the guidelines say cannabis products can only be used as a last resort, and that patients with MS and chronic pain are unlikely to get prescriptions. In fact, the guidelines state baldly that: “Very few people in England are likely to get a prescription for medical cannabis.”

Following the UK’s new Misuse of Drugs Regulations, which came into force on 1st November, the NHS has issued guidelines on cannabis for medical use, both for clinicians and for the public. The best that can be said about these is that they are NOT the law. In fact they are inaccurate, misleading and provide a seriously distorted picture both of the new regulations and of the evidence that is available on the use of cannabis as medicine. The crucial points are these. There are NO RESTRICTIONS on what conditions cannabis may be prescribed for. As well as oils, raw herbal cannabis may also be prescribed – for vaping only, smoking is prohibited. All the decisions are entirely in the hands of the prescribing consultant. Of course, the problem is your consultant likely knows nothing about cannabis.

The UK’s only HCP medical cannabis online education platform The Academy of Medical Cannabis (www.taomc.org) launches amid concerns that HCPs in the UK are unprepared for the new medical cannabis legislation that is introduced today (November 1).

Parliament Speaker Irakli Kobakhidze has announced today that the Government of Georgia will withdraw the controversial draft bill that was to legalize cultivation of medical cannabis and its production for export. Kobakhidze made the statement on November 2, following his meeting with Partiarch Ilia II and members of the Holy Synod. According to Kobakhidze, although “positions varied within the team,” the GDDG has “kept its initial promise” that it would make the final decision based on “wide societal consensus,” and “in agreement with the church.”

Beer with cannabis is experiencing a high in Germany. And it can be produced within the law, as long as the THC content – the active ingredient in cannabis – doesn’t exceed legal limits. We spoke to the brewers making hemp beer.

Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Minister ACM Prajin Juntong said on Wednesday that the Narcotics Control Board had already completed its study, which presents both pros and cons of the substance, and Prime Minister Gen. Prayut Chan-o-cha has already viewed it. ACM Prajin added that the government is on course to pass a new law to legalize marijuana although more studies are still needed by various related agencies, particularly the Food and Drug Administration.

BUSINESS & POLICY

Shares of cannabis companies traded broadly, and in many cases sharply higher Wednesday, as U.S. midterm elections are likely to usher in a green wave, with Michigan voting to legalize recreational pot and other states supporting medical marijuana likely just the beginning.

Former House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) has a marijuana op-ed in the Wall Street Journal: “The trend could not be clearer: Cannabis prohibition is coming to an end. A Gallup poll last month found 66% of Americans favor legal marijuana. I am now one of those Americans. It began when a friend of mine who suffered from chronic back pain found relief using medical cannabis.”

Residents of the nation’s capital get no vote in Congress, but the Democratic takeover of the House may come with a consolation prize: recreational marijuana shops. D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D), fresh off her reelection victory, said Wednesday she plans to introduce legislation early next year to legalize the sale of marijuana.

Banks have been wary of financing cannabis companies, which grow or sell marijuana, as it is still a federally restricted substance in the United States. This has forced companies to turn to other funding sources including private equity firms, credit unions, or direct lenders, which can command rates of up to 15%. But with the legal marijuana market forecast to reach US$146.4bn by the end of 2025, according to Grand View Research, the opportunity may be too tempting for banks to pass on for much longer.

A Bay Area criminal defense attorney on Wednesday claimed he is being blackballed by his bank because of his work with clients facing marijuana-related charges. Longtime criminal defense attorney Donald Drewry told KPIX 5 he’s being targeted because of the defendants he represents.

In the final episode of Working With Weed, Jordan talks to ​Peter Marcus, who is the communications director and head of political outreach for Terrapin Care Station in Boulder, Colorado. Like most positions in this newly legalized industry, lobbying for the interests of cannabis businesses means​ working without a roadmap. But for someone like Peter, that’s what makes things interesting. Whether he’s working to pass an unprecedented public cannabis consumption bill or unexpectedly explaining to a room full of anti-weed activists that no, everyone in the cannabis industry is ​not​ secretly in the mob, things are never run-of-the-mill for him.

Count Coca-Cola out of the budding cannabis market.Coca-Cola president and CEO James Quincey told Yahoo Finance on Tuesday the beverage giant has no plans to enter the cannabis drink space. In September, Coke said it was “closely watching” the space and had not yet decided on whether to get involved. The company was rumored to be nearing a partnership with Aurora Cannabis.

The ICA has been established to educate and inform future regional market and thought leaders interested in the cannabis industry, fostering responsible, transparent and effective market practices learned across more mature North American cannabis sectors.

The CEO of Molson Coors is bullish on cannabis-infused beverages. Speaking on Wednesday during the company’s third-quarter earnings call, CEO Mark Hunter said the cannabis market could total $US7 billion to $US10 billion in Canada alone.

For years professional investors weren’t interested in anything other than “digging holes in the ground” — but that’s now changed, says the world’s most powerful legal pot dealer Bruce Linton. Mr Linton, chief of the world’s biggest pot stock — $US11.6 billion Canadian-listed Canopy Growth — is in Sydney this week to speak at the Sydney Cannatech cannabis conference.

Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein today named Billy J. Williams, U.S. Attorney for the District of Oregon, chair of the Attorney General’s Marijuana Working Group. The working group is part of the Attorney General Advisory Committee’s (AGAC) Controlled Substances Subcommittee.

Seized text messages from the employee’s cellphone indicated that the licensee was aware of both the diversion and the selling of product on the black market. While executing the suspension orders, officers seized 556 pounds of marijuana flower product, 24 pounds of marijuana oil and 204 plants from both locations. Due to the severity of these violations and the risk of diversion should the business remain open the Board issued the emergency suspensions.

Barry Grissom, former U.S. Attorney for the District of Kansas, has joined Electrum Partners as Senior Vice President of Global Policy and Corporate Counsel. Electrum Partners is a Venture Management firm, specializing in the cannabis business as well as ancillary services.

The first episode of Volteface Podcast explores the legislative changes in Canada around cannabis with Policy Advisor Blair Gibbs providing insight. This section focuses on the effect of legislation on the black market, new emerging opportunities, the potential impact on the UK’s drug policy & variations of legality across provinces. This edition also analyses the legislation of medicinal cannabis in the UK, and the many nuances surrounding issues in availability and prescription.

HEALTH & SCIENCE

The following compendium of landmark cannabis studies is exclusively focused on top-level research that either fundamentally advanced our understanding of the plant’s therapeutic properties, or thoroughly debunked some pernicious piece of official misinformation—such as “smoking weed gives you lung cancer.”

The first study to analyze the effects of cannabis on driving performance found that it caused almost no impairment. The impairment that it did cause was similar to that observed under the influence of a legal alcohol limit. Researchers at the University of Iowa’s National Advanced Driving Simulator carried out the study, sponsored by National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, National Institute of Drug Abuse, and the Office of National Drug Control Policy. In fact, some would argue that it makes them drive safer or slower.

When will more medical schools include the second largest neurotransmitter system, the endocannabinoid system (ECS), into medical school curriculum? In 2013, Cardiologist Dr. David Allen did a preliminary survey to determine which schools teach the ECS and found that only a total of 13 percent of U.S. medical schools even mentioned it. Now, we’re not talking about cannabis here, but a neurotransmitter system that was discovered in the late 1980s, almost 30 years ago. We know that it is critical for homeostasis, yet few medical schools have seen fit to train medical students about it.

Approximately one-third of patients with epilepsy presents seizures despite adequate treatment. Hence, there is the need to search for new therapeutic options. Cannabidiol (CBD) is a major chemical component of the resin of Cannabis sativa plant, most commonly known as marijuana.

Research released today underscores both the dangers and the therapeutic promise of marijuana, revealing different effects across the lifespan. Marijuana exposure in the womb or during adolescence may disrupt learning and memory, damage communication between brain regions, and disturb levels of key neurotransmitters and metabolites in the brain. In Alzheimer’s disease, however, compounds found in marijuana, such as the psychoactive compound delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), may improve memory and mitigate some of the disease’s symptoms.

Medlab Clinical Ltd has successfully completed stage I of the NanaBis™ human trial on cancer patients at Royal North Shore Hospital. NanaBis™ is one of two of Medlab’s cannabis-based medicines which contains formulations of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD). Medlab has received formal approval from the appropriate authority to proceed to stage II of the human cancer trial. Stage II of the clinical trial will focus on further safety but also tolerance and dose escalation.

An animal study has identified new pathways by which cannabidiol (CBD), the non-intoxicating compound in marijuana, affects the brain and nervous system without getting users high. If replicable in humans, the finding may strengthen the argument that a moderate dose of CBD could be a safer alternative to standard pain and anxiety meds for many patients.

Through its Social Impact program, Eaze advocates for access to those who rely on cannabis and can’t afford it in many cases. Eaze has worked with veterans’ organizations, including Operation EVAC, over the last year to better understand the barriers preventing veterans from accessing cannabis, which isbeing studiedas a treatment for PTSD. Affordability has remained a persistent issue.

Legendary filmmmaker and winery owner Francis Ford Coppola is premiering his own marijuana line. In collaboration with California-based Humboldt Brothers, “The Grower’s Series” product line will feature three one-gram samples contained in wine bottle-shaped tins. The move into the cannabis space seems natural for Coppola. The Academy Award-winning director of “Apocalypse Now” and many other top films sees wine and cannabis as closer cousins than some critics do. “Wine and cannabis are two ancient and bounteous gifts of Mother Nature, linked by great care, terroir and temperateness,” Coppola said in a press release. “Expertise making one applies to the other.”

The activist filmmaker pulled out his Michigan absentee ballot during an appearance on NBC’s Late Night with Seth Meyers this week, giving him an opportunity to vote to legalize marijuana in his home state in front of a televised national audience.

Ross Rebagliati, who was briefly stripped of a snowboarding gold medal in 1998 because of marijuana, hopes that Canada’s decision to legalize pot will bring him closure, business opportunities and, perhaps most importantly, vindication.

With cannabis usage increasing in recent years, it’s important to take a look at how the substance impacts those who turn to it for recreational or medical reasons.Now, thanks to new research, we know that cannabis affects women and men differently. In fact, according to the study, conducted by researchers at the National Research Council of Italy and published in Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, women are more likely to become dependent on the drug than their male counterparts.

OTHER DRUGS

DEA Acting Administrator Uttam Dhillon today announced results of the 2018 National Drug Threat Assessment, which outlines the threats posed to the United States by domestic and international drug trafficking and the abuse of illicit drugs.

EVENTS

All members are invited to attend the annual general meeting at 11am on Saturday 1 December 2018 at the Town Hall, 45 Cullen Street, Nimbin. Nominations for an elected position on the executive committee must be received by the president at least one week before the meeting – email head@hempembassy.net or phone 02 6689 0326. Voting for Office Bearers will be by open ordinary ballot by those present at the meeting only.

MISCELLANEOUS

“I’ve tried to write an honest account of what it’s like for someone to come from a very un-parliamentary background, into a balance of power position in an Australian Parliament”, Fiona Patten said. “There are many similarities between my old career and my new one – although you are much more likely to be screwed in politics these days than in the sex industry. Machine politics, revenge and religion have turned politics toxic even in the last couple of years”. Read about Fiona Patten’s Track Record on Law Reform of Drug and Other Social Issues.